Punekars exercised their right to vote on Monday in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, from free tea to discounts on ice cream, many freebies were offered to voters by shopkeepers. This was meant to boost the voter turnout, which was close to 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the shop owners, offering free food items motivates voters to exercise their voting rights. To increase the percentage of voting in the Pune Lok Sabha constituency, the Grahak Peth grocery stores in front of SP College offered free tea and cream rolls to all voters who came to cast their votes. The tea and cream rolls were served only to the early voters starting from 7am to 10am.
Suryakant Pathak, Grahak Peth chief, told The Free Press Journal, "We offered free tea and cream rolls to all the early voters who came to vote. Maharashtra Minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil also came to cast his vote. The aim was to motivate the voters to cast their vote."
A total of 450 restaurants in the city offered food at a discounted rate for voters on the voting day.
A housing society in Lohegaon decided to offer a discount on the society's maintenance fee to every flat owner who votes to encourage 100 per cent polling by residents.
Dhruv Ruparel, president of the Petrol Dealers' Association, Pune, said, "To encourage first-time voters, the association launched a scheme under which those who vote will get an additional fuel worth ₹50 on the minimum purchase of one litre of fuel. The scheme will be valid till May 20."
Similarly, the founder of Shirish Traders offered a cup of ice cream at half price. The activity was held near Kamala Nehru Park on Prabhat Road. Shirish Bodhani, owner of the shop, said, "This ice cream is sold at ₹60. However, on polling day, it was sold at half price, i.e., ₹30."
